Breathe- How many character POVs and what is its point?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

solemole

War Child
Joined
Nov 25, 2008
Messages
580
Location
in a series of dreams
So reading the lyrics, and listening to the song, it seems like there's at least TWO character POV... The first one is in the first person in the first verse... The second one is the Man at the door explaining himself at the second verse... So the question is: Which POV is singing in the chorus and what does he mean by the embolded text below?---


16th of June, nine 0 five, door bell rings
Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
There’s a few things I need you to know. Three

Coming from a long line of travelling sales people on my mother’s side
I wasn’t gonna buy just anyone’s cockatoo
So why would I invite a complete stranger into my home
Would you ?

These days are better than that
These days are better than that

Every day I die again, and again I’m reborn
Every day I have to find the courage
To walk out into the street
With arms out
Got a love you can’t defeat
Neither down or out
There’s nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now

16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up
And I’m coming down with some new Asian virus
Ju Ju man, Ju Ju nab
Doc says you’re fine, or dying
Please
Nine 0 nine, St John Divine, on the line, my pulse is fine
But I’m running down the road like loose electricity
While the band in my head plays a striptease

The roar that lies on the other side of silence
The forest fire that is fear so deny it

Walk out into the street
Sing you hear out
The people we meet
Will not be drowned out

There’s nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now
Yeah, yeah

We are people borne of sound
The songs are in our eyes
Gonna wear them like a crown

Walk out, into the sunburst street
Sing you hear out, sing you hear out
I’ve found grace inside a sound
I found grace, it’s all that I find
And I can breathe
Breathe now
 
I think maybe the man at the door is the rock singer, Bono, pushing his ideals and music on the narrator. The song's narrator is actually the U2 fan, who's standing up to the rock star, and taking control of his own life, by absorbing the singer's love and then redirecting it outwards, toward the world. "Breathe" symbolizes the give-and-take of love: you breathe in other people's love, and then you breathe out your own, back to them and to the world.

The line "the songs are in our eyes" is the narrator/U2 fan's acknowledgment of Bono's line from Miracle Drug, "the songs are in your eyes". The singer/travelling salesman / Bono "breathes" love to the fans, who then in turn "find grace" in U2's sound .. and can "breathe" it back to the world.

:hmm:
 
I just posted this in WTAHAN..

Wow, this song blows me away. I love the complexity of the lyrics...
I would love to know what Bono is talking about with the dates in the first verse 6/16 anybody know?
The only thing I can come up with is ( don't laugh I just googled it) 616 supposedly the new number that marks the "beast" in the bible. ??? Google it.
And the 3 things he needs to know? The Holy Trinity? Father Son and Holy Ghost?
Also, 909 St. John the Divine, is he talking about the bible verse John 9:9?

Here's the verse and if you read the commentary below the verse I found online when I googled the verse, it kinda makes sense..the bit about grace. How cool is that? So it's the beast at the front door, hahaha and Bono is telling him he doesn't have anything he needs because he has grace everyday, he is reborn everyday.

JOHN 9:9 Some said, This is Him, others said, He is like him: but he said, I am He.



Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:

9:8-12 Those whose eyes are opened, and whose hearts are cleansed by grace, being known to be the same person, but widely different in character, live as monuments to the Redeemer's glory, and recommend his grace to all who desire the same precious salvation. It is good to observe the way and method of God's works, and they will appear the more wonderful. Apply this spiritually. In the work of grace wrought upon the soul we see the change, but we see not the hand that makes it: the way of the Spirit is like that of the wind, which thou hearest the sound of, but canst not tell whence it comes, nor whither it goes.
 
June 16, 1904, refers to the day in the life of the fictional character Leopold Bloom as he goes about his business in Dublin-- James Joyce's novel Ulysses (agreed among scholars as the 20th century's greatest English novel)... it is also the day in that same year Joyce proposed to his wife, which is of particular importance for one of the story arcs in the novel.

Dubliners now celebrate that day as Bloomsday.
 
I think the man at the door is a door-to-door evangelist.
"Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
There’s a few things I need you to know. Three"

TRANSLATION = if you want to have eternal life there's three things you need to know 1) you are a sinner, 2) Jesus paid for your sins, 3) you must accept Him to be forgiven and get to Heaven

The Bono-type of character responds that he is privy to this type of "sales pitch" and he has a much different take on Love and God and Grace...which is the whole theme of the album if you ask me.
 
The key line in the song is "There’s nothing you have that I need". The narrator is a guy being bombarded by the outside world, being suffocated by a world filled with terminal diagnoses, a fluctuating stock market as well as a world constantly trying to sell you something, whether it's knowledge, religion, or even charity.

That line (combined with the later verse explaining it more thoroughly) is the realization that through music, he has found grace. And with that grace he can breathe once more, because it's all he needs.
 
Ju Ju is the Nigerian word for a "Voodoo doctor".

And 16th of June is indeed Bloomsday.

I love lyrics that are so complex, yet open to interpretation. Breathe is intriguing, there's so much going on, I like these lyrics a lot.
 
I think the man at the door is a door-to-door evangelist.
"Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
There’s a few things I need you to know. Three"

TRANSLATION = if you want to have eternal life there's three things you need to know 1) you are a sinner, 2) Jesus paid for your sins, 3) you must accept Him to be forgiven and get to Heaven

The Bono-type of character responds that he is privy to this type of "sales pitch" and he has a much different take on Love and God and Grace...which is the whole theme of the album if you ask me.

:up: That makes total sense!
Any thoughts about what 9:09 St John the Divine means?
 
I definitely appreciate your interpretations -- brings more sense to the song for me.

Having listened to the 30- and 45-second clips, "There’s three things I need you to know. Three" -- I kept on expecting there to be a list of three things!
 
:up: That makes total sense!
Any thoughts about what 9:09 St John the Divine means?


I tend to lean with what others have posted, that it is John 9:9

Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one."

It fits the theme that the door-to-door evanglist and others like him miss the real Jesus. Also the narrator himself struggles to know Him as he's running down the street like "loose electricity" (alive but uncontrolled?)

Maybe...till thinking about that.
 
I definitely appreciate your interpretations -- brings more sense to the song for me.

Having listened to the 30- and 45-second clips, "There’s three things I need you to know. Three" -- I kept on expecting there to be a list of three things!

Yes, me too! Reminds me of REM's "I Believe" - I'm still waiting for the 3 "keys"
 
I am really intrigued about this ...

I feel like it's about someone who suffers a heart attack, or something alike ... "long line" ... "my mother's side" ...

Man at the door comes with an ambulance


He is taken to the hospital, it only takes 4 minutes!! electricity "Doc says you re fine or diyng" "my pulse is fine" ...



Anyway ... I love this song


breathe ...


Edit: It was only intuitive that reference to the hospital. There is at least one

Mmm interesting, specialised in trasplants

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's_Rehab_Hospital

http://www.stjohnsrehab.com/about_us/sisters.aspx
 
I haven't totally thought this response all through...but given the Middle Eastern influence in the album, wouldn't it be worthwhile to consider the date of June 16, 632? That is the date considered by historians to be the beginning of the Persian era and the subsequent Islamic conquest. So I agree with the other poster who mentioned something about conversion/evangelizing....maybe the first portion of the song isn't Christian but Islamic. I know 632 may be a bit of a stretch.... 6 + 3= 9 and then 3+2=5...so June 16 9-0-5? I dunno, just bouncing that around in my head....:nerd:
 
Bono generally moves around freely in public without bodyguards or security when he's not on tour. At the same time, he's also had his share of death threats.

Perhaps the knock at the door was a rent-a-bodyguard for he and his family for public Bloomsday festivities and he was feeling resentful or defiant about needing protection.
 
I think the man at the door is a door-to-door evangelist.
"Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
There’s a few things I need you to know. Three"

TRANSLATION = if you want to have eternal life there's three things you need to know 1) you are a sinner, 2) Jesus paid for your sins, 3) you must accept Him to be forgiven and get to Heaven

The Bono-type of character responds that he is privy to this type of "sales pitch" and he has a much different take on Love and God and Grace...which is the whole theme of the album if you ask me.

:applaud:
AND NOW IT ALL MAKES SENSE!
 
JOHN 9:9 Some said, "This is Him," others said, "He is like him": but he said, "I am He."

To connect this to the idea that the man answering the door doesn't need what the man at the door has to offer:

I believe in Bono: In Conversation Bono said something along the lines of ultimately believing in the notion that God is each of us. I may be wrong...I'm just going on what I think I remember. Anyhow, if that is the case---if Bono's going on the notion that God is each of us---and if the man at the door is either the beast or a door-to-door evangelist (ha! same thing, right?), then the man answering the door can say "There is nothing you have that I need" because he has found all of the answers that he needs---he knows that God is in him.....he can say, "I am He."
 
16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up
And I’m coming down with some new Asian virus
Ju Ju man, Ju Ju nab
Doc says you’re fine, or dying
Please
Nine 0 nine, St John Divine, on the line, my pulse is fine
But I’m running down the road like loose electricity
While the band in my head plays a striptease

16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up
And I’m coming down with some new Asian virus
Ju Ju man, Ju Ju nab
Doc says you’re fine, or dying
Please
Nine 0 nine, St John Divine, on the line, my pulse is fine
But I’m running down the road like loose electricity
While the band in my head plays a striptease

The roar that lies on the other side of silence
The forest fire that is fear so deny it

Is this the travelling salesman character in the song ? Or the lead character answering the door ? And what are the "three things I need you to know" ?
 
I definitely think the June 16th reference is Bloomsday- especially with all the references to "walking out."
 
To connect this to the idea that the man answering the door doesn't need what the man at the door has to offer:

I believe in Bono: In Conversation Bono said something along the lines of ultimately believing in the notion that God is each of us. I may be wrong...I'm just going on what I think I remember. Anyhow, if that is the case---if Bono's going on the notion that God is each of us---and if the man at the door is either the beast or a door-to-door evangelist (ha! same thing, right?), then the man answering the door can say "There is nothing you have that I need" because he has found all of the answers that he needs---he knows that God is in him.....he can say, "I am He."

I think that is one way to look at it also :)
There can be so many ways to interpret his words Bono must know that he is driving us crazy trying to figure this out!! hahaha!!
There is something to be said for the air of mystery around U2 songs.
It's fun to try and figure them out but it's also fun to keep things undefined...so you can take on the meaning yourself in your own life. That's true for any song I guess, but especially for most U2 songs.
Part of me hopes that Bono doesn't give a way too much about the songs too soon. It can be disappointing if you initial take on the song turns out to be something completely different than where he was coming from.
Look how long WOWY was a mystery.
 
I think that is one way to look at it also :)
There can be so many ways to interpret his words Bono must know that he is driving us crazy trying to figure this out!! hahaha!!
There is something to be said for the air of mystery around U2 songs.
It's fun to try and figure them out but it's also fun to keep things undefined...so you can take on the meaning yourself in your own life. That's true for any song I guess, but especially for most U2 songs.
Part of me hopes that Bono doesn't give a way too much about the songs too soon. It can be disappointing if you initial take on the song turns out to be something completely different than where he was coming from.
Look how long WOWY was a mystery.


What you have to remember is that your interpretation of the song is just as valid even if it is not what Bono had in mind. The only time that is a problem is when people try to say that their interpretation is what Bono had to have meant even when Bono himself has said differently. Even in Into the Heart Bono doesn't really give concrete meanings for songs but he will describe what was in his head that lead him to the song.

Dana
 
one of the first aid ambulance services in dublin is is operated by st. johns
in addition there is st. john of god the rehab for the drink...... in Dublin!

U2 stem from a long line of poets and often in Irish poetry there is multiple layers of symbolism and imagery build in.

wonder if there is any correlation to ulyseses day events and the overall song.
 
Back
Top Bottom